Now That ‘The Furious’ is Out, It’s Time More People Watch This Indonesian Action Classic

Critics and movie-goers alike have been gushing about The Furious, with its epic action sequences and streamlined story earning it a rare 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. (Though its potential use of AI dubbing in post-production is worth discussing, especially since XYZ Films is confirmed to have the software to do it.)

The success of the film will also hopefully get people more interested in international martial-arts films. And there’s one in particular that stars two key players from The Furious (Joe Taslim and Yayan Ruhian) and shares a lot of traits that made The Furious such a crowd-pleaser. It’s known to genre fanatics and the friends of movie nerds who never watch what’s recommended to them — no matter how many times it’s brought up (you know who you are). That film is 2011’s The Raid: Redemption (or, simply The Raid).

‘The Raid’ Is a Simple Story with Complex Choreography

The Raid is an Indonesian action film written and directed by Gareth Evans and starring Iko Uwais, Yayan Ruhian, Joe Taslim, and Donny Alamsyah. The story follows Rama (Uwais), an expecting father who is part of a 20-man operation to raid an apartment complex and arrest the crime lord, Tama Riyadi (Ray Sahetapy), inside. However, when the group gets spotted in the building and trapped inside, Rama’s skills will be put to the test as he tries to make it out alive.

Much like The Furious, The Raid benefits from having a clean throughline of a story to build action scenes on. Not including credits, the movie is a little under 100 minutes in runtime, and except for the opening with Rama, which shows him with his pregnant wife and what he’s fighting for (similar to the opening of Training Day), almost the entirety of the film takes place in the apartment complex. There’s a debriefing on the ride over where Sergeant Taka (Taslim) explains who Riyadi is, what their mission is, and the danger that’s in store for them, as well as cutting to a quick glimpse into how ruthless Riyadi is as a boss

From there, it’s all about the operation, and things escalate quickly. If someone were to watch The Raid and base their opinion of it solely on the first action scene, which is a quick shootout in the dark, they’d probably be wondering what the fuss is all about, because, at first, the action is pretty average by modern action standards. However, once the bullets run out, the guns get tossed aside, and Rama is on his own to fend for himself, the movie basks in what makes it beloved by fans: highly choreographed action set pieces with the actors performing Pencak Silat (an Indonesian form of martial arts). The action is fast-paced, aggressive, and has some solid kills that incorporate the claustrophobic environment of being in a cramped apartment building.

Best of all is that you can always make out what’s happening. Keep in mind, this came out at the tail-end of when shaky-cam was used prominently in action movies (which is unfortunately starting to make a comeback). That makes being aware of the geography of where everyone is in relation to each other and what they’re doing even more refreshing. It even puts shaky-cam to shame, since the camera occasionally will move in coordination with the hits, making the fights feel more visceral and exciting, but not at the expense of giving the viewer motion sickness.

This Martial Arts Epic Became One of the Best Sequels of the 2010s by Standing on Its Own

The epic thriller expands and enhances the world of its predecessor.

Yayan Ruhian Is ‘The Raid’s MVP

A man hits another man in a dark corridor

Much like The Furious, The Raid also has a multi-man climactic showdown that includes noted badass Yayan Ruhian. (His involvement makes every movie better; if Tim Curry had a martial artist equivalency, it would be him). It’s the high watermark of the film and definitely the fight to go out on, but it also feels appropriately built up. There are plenty of action movies where the clash between the hero and the primary villain is the climax simply because there’s no one else for the protagonist to fight. Or the film will present the final boss as the real, ultimate challenge, even though logistically, it doesn’t feel like it. John Wick (Keanu Reeves) vs. Viggo (Michael Nyqvist) comes to mind.

But here, they establish Mad Dog (Ruhian) early on as vicious and cruel when he goes against one of Rama’s teammates, so by the time they do go toe-to-toe, he feels like a genuine threat and someone that Rama can’t take alone. The resulting fight is the greatest two-on-one climactic brawl of two siblings going against Yayan Ruhian in movie history. (Boy Kills World gets the silver medal.)

The Raid is regarded as one of the best action films ever made — Rolling Stone ranked it #4 on their Top 50 Action Films list back in 2021 — but is seemingly in the cross-section of movies that a lot of people have heard of and swear they’ll get around to … but they never do. If you haven’t seen it despite your friends’ best efforts, it’s currently streaming on Hulu, and is absolutely worth a watch, especially for fans of The Furious.